Ghana has launched a gold coin to encourage domestic savings and assist with managing money market liquidity. The coin, refined to 99.99% purity, is issued and guaranteed by the Bank of Ghana (BOG). The gold coins will reportedly come in one, half, and quarter ounces.
According to a Bloomberg report, the coins will become available in the first two weeks of October. Residents interested in purchasing the coins will be able to do so using Ghanaian cedi. BOG governor Ernest Addison said the coins are priced based on the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) auction price.
“The Ghana gold coin enables the Bank of Ghana to mop up excess liquidity in the banking sector and will supplement the bank’s bills for liquidity management. It gives those resident in Ghana an additional avenue to invest to reap the benefits of the Bank of Ghana’s domestic gold purchase program,” Addison said.
Launching the gold coin is the latest action by the Ghanaian central bank to boost demand for the cedi. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News in late 2022, Ghana also took steps to bolster the Ghanaian cedi when it launched the “gold for oil scheme.” Under that arrangement, the BOG required large gold producers to sell the gold to it at a 20% discount.
As noted in the Bloomberg report, the Ghanaian central bank has acquired 65.4 tons of gold valued at $5 billion since it launched the oil for gold scheme. However, despite taking these steps, the Ghanaian currency has continued to slide against the U.S. dollar. In June, the cedi’s exchange rate to the dollar plunged to its lowest at the time following reports that Ghana’s cocoa production would miss the initial projected output by around half.
At the time of writing (14.00 hours EST, Sept 30, 2024), the cedi was trading at around 15.77 to the U.S. dollar, a new low for the currency.
